Wednesday, July 29, 2009

i am pleased to say i participated in my first organized race last saturday. it was the whaling days "whale of a run" in silverdale. it was a last-minute decision....my friend heidi asked me the day before if i wanted to run it with her, and i thought "sure, why not?" so we showed up early the morning of the race to register.....it was a *beautiful* day, though a bit hot. the race was a beautiful 4-mile long scenic loop along old-town silverdale and then down a road with gorgeous water views. AND i actually finished it in a decent time, 35:30. thats a lil' better than my usual 9-minute mile, yay!

afterwards heidi and i stayed to watch the whaling days silverdale lions grand parade. steve and nathan met us up there with all the kiddos.....austin marched in it as he does every year with his boy scout troop. it is a loooong parade, almost 2 hours long....but the kids enjoy it because they throw out loads of candy and goodies. by the end though we were *so* ready to leave.....with temps in the high 80's that day, nathan's failure to remember the sunscreen, and the fact that heidi and i were sitting in our sweat/stench from the race several hours earlier, we were *DONE*.

austin marching. he usually marches with his boy scout troop, but this year the VFW needed some help carrying banners of fallen soldiers/sailors. it was an honor for him to help them.cool whale balloon.i just really liked this old moving truck.katie and sophia watching parade.nathan, katie and sam enjoying parade.my future firefighter?

Thursday, July 23, 2009

some belated pics from the 4th. nathan was *supposed* to be home in time for the 4th of july and we were planning on going to gas works park again this year on lake union....but as with all things navy, schedules change and i should have *known* better than to count on anything. so we just stayed home and celebrated. my mom came down from pt. townsend and heidi and steve came over with the fam and we celebrated britt's 12th b-day.....barbequed a ton a delicious food......enjoyed some *great* company.....and set off tons of fireworks slightly intoxicated, a good combination, no?! LOL i didn't take many pics, but here are a few.....

austin, steven, and scottyi don't think he could take a serious picture to save his life.sophia and katie.katie and mommy doing sparklersme and heids. she looked cute but i looked like poo, hence the disguise :P

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

today we went hiking on the skokomish river on a trail called staircase rapids (sans austin because he wasn't feeling well). it was about an hour and a half drive south of us, but *such* a pretty one; much of the drive hugs the hood canal. it is a beautiful hike through an old growth forest--here is a trail description:

"The trail begins at an elevation of 800 feet across the river from the ranger station. The trail crosses a clearing and comes to a side path that leads to a giant cedar, 14 feet in diameter. (the cedar has long-since fallen but still lays there, look for pic of us next to it) Then it emerges on the banks of the Skokomish, at the beginning of the side paths that lead to scenic vistas. In less than a mile you'll reach Staircase Rapids, where the water flows over low terraces. Olympic rivers are a good place to look for wildlife -- belted kingfishers and harlequin ducks or even Cope's giant salamanders, which are endemic to the Olympics.

Beyond the rapids the trail climbs Dead Horse Hill, created by a glacier during the last Ice Age. A path leads to the Rapids Bridge at the Lower Skokomish Crossing. (the bridge washed out in the mid-90's; you may complete the loop however if you are brave enough to wade through the rapids) The trail descends to Beaver Flat, part of which was burned by the Beaver Fire of 1985, and at 1.7 miles reaches Copper View Camp, which provides a view upriver to Copper Mountain. (best part of the hike for me, the view was to-die-for.)"

we ate lunch on the bank of the river next to where the old bridge used to be, and then the kids played in the water for a bit.and by "play in the water", what i really mean is throwing rocks into it to watch the splash, which is what they spent 90% of the time doing.the sun was shining down through the trees here onto some mossy rocks that i thought were pretty.here's a pic of the bridge that completed the loop before it got washed away.see those rocks upstream? that is where we waded through.this was a cool little bridge.....just a huge log that was flat on top with a branch railing screwed to one side.this view if nothing else made the whole hike worthwhile.a big rock in the middle of the trail.on our way out, we stopped at lake cushman, which the skokomish river feeds into. it is *so* beautiful.....it backs right up to the foothills and has super clear pretty water for swimming and playing in.not sure what samuel is doing here, LOL....my little mermaid.i have about a zillion pictures of samuel playing with this board he found in the water. for some reason he thought it was the coolest water toy EVAH. he crawled on it.....used it as a bench.....tried to use it as a boogie-board....okay, maybe it makes a better surfboard.....and he used it to build his own personal stonehenge on.trying to push his sister off of HIS board.my shadow in the water.